Man sentenced in illegal gas transport

SACRAMENTO - A federal judge has ordered a Stockton man to pay a $100,000 fine and serve five years of supervised released for transporting natural gas without proper qualification.

The Record

SACRAMENTO - A federal judge has ordered a Stockton man to pay a $100,000 fine and serve five years of supervised released for transporting natural gas without proper qualification.

James Richard Giles, 59, was the owner of Clean Fuels LLC, a transportation business that carried compressed natural gas in metal cylinders to commercial users.

An investigation was initiated after an employee complained that Giles was refilling cylinders illegally. The cylinder certifications had expired months before they were refilled and transported from the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. station on McDonald Island to Stockton customers.

Investigators found Giles repeatedly broke the law.

Giles was convicted on charges of willful and unlawful refilling of a compressed natural gas cylinder that was overdue for its five-year requalification and then offering it for transportation, U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced Wednesday.